Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Clarke Carlisle reveals a stranger in a park saved him during mental health crisis

Clarke Carlisle has spoken out about his battle with mental illness (Anthony Devlin/PA)
Clarke Carlisle has spoken out about his battle with mental illness (Anthony Devlin/PA)

FORMER footballer Clarke Carlisle has revealed that a stranger persuaded him to speak to his family rather than take his own life.

The 38-year-old disappeared from home last month and sparked a missing persons appeal before he was found safe in Liverpool.

The ex-chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association has campaigned to raise awareness of mental health issues and launched the Clarke Carlisle Foundation for Dual Diagnosis – a condition that has been described as “mental health problems co-occurring with drug or alcohol abuse”.

The former Burnley defender described his recent turmoil to presenter Adrian Chiles on his BBC 5 live Daily show.

He said he had been “strolling around” Liverpool and was “headstrong set on the most convenient way to kill myself” when a passing stranger intervened.

Carlisle said: “I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t have my phone with me; obviously I was lurking in the shadows, looking for, you know, this place and that place, trying to mind my own business.

Let’s talk about male mental health: Mariem Omari on ‘One Mississippi’ and the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival

“This car pulled up while I was sat in a park and a guy came over and said ‘Oh, I thought it was you. You know your family is looking for you?’ and I guessed as much but I didn’t know the extent of how far it had gone.

“This guy, you know, sadly for him, his friend had killed himself a few days earlier and he said ‘I thought this was you and I could not go by not checking’ because he’d heard the state that I was in and he just wanted to help.

“And, you know, I didn’t want his help, I didn’t want his help sat in the park, but this guy came and sat next to me and he hugged me and he cried on my shoulder, just urging me to get in touch with my family.”

The man called Carlisle’s pregnant wife, Carrie, and put Carlisle on the phone.

Gary Tank Commander star Greg McHugh encourages people to talk about mental health as he shares his own experience with anxiety

Mrs Carlisle told Chiles: “I heard his voice and it was like, literally like, the best moment of my life because I thought I’d never hear from him again, and this wonderful gentleman stayed with him.”

She added: “It’s horrifying to realise that you’ve been engaging not with your husband but with an illness that manipulates the individual to the point where they feel they’re a burden.

Clarke Carlisle
Carlisle represented a number of clubs, including Northampton Town (John Walton/Empics)
“We’re surrounded by love all the time but what I didn’t know is that he couldn’t feel that love. It was like he was living in a glass box.

“I judged a crisis by my own standards. What I thought was minor was literally the end of the world for Clarke and if I could go back I would stop using my own mental framework as a reference.”

Father-of-three Carlisle spent three weeks in hospital and is now recovering at home.

 

 

Do you need help or support? Contact Samaritans on 116 113